What started as a research project for one San Jose high school student has recently transformed into a nonprofit organization with hundreds of members and chapters throughout the nation, all advocating for a shared cause: to address systemic inequities facing Indigenous communities.
In San Jose, where it all started in 2023, that advocacy involves lobbying for the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe to gain the federal recognition the tribe says it lost due to a clerical omission in 1927, which some elected officials and the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs have disputed.
For Aaron He, a senior at private high school Bellarmine College Preparatory, the impetus for founding the Indigenous Justice Coalition — which gained nonprofit status in June — was learning that the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe was one of many unrecognized tribes across the state…